113kg Barra caught in the Fitzroy River!

[PumpyChowdown]

Had an email forwarded to me this morning and I nearly fell off my chair when I opened it. This is the text from it (cut and paste):

I’m sure all you Barramundi fishermen will enjoy this one; recently caught this barra on the Fitzroy river. The fish weighed 113kg's and could unfortunately not be released as a crocodile attacked it when they had the fish boatside. (likely story)

Such a shame it wasn't released. I've never seen anything like this before!

[yoyo]

cant seem to see any obvious signs of a crocodile attack there...

[burger93]

me either yoyo

[yoyo]

actually, these guys should be done for this as well, regardless of croc attack/death at the boat...the fish is oversize and should have been left in the water...

[Angus]

Thats a big fish alright.

Its hard to trust emails though as they can do the rounds and pick up random stories.

For example, if I could make a guess I would be inclined to say that could be a Nile Perch (as per the below attached picture) caught in Africa. There is a darker skinned arm in one of the pictures but it could be as easily Aboriginal or Afircan so that doesnt help.

It would be interesting if anyone could ID the tree

Sorry not trying to discredit your post, I have just seen some random stuff emailed. Like the Goliath Tiger Fish caught in teh congo labled as "Worlds Largest Piranah"!!

And if its true.. Cool!

.

[ellicat]

My scepticism says "Nile Perch".

But whatever....it's a huge impressive catch :woohoo:

[Angus]

Another Nile Perch.

Very very similar to a Barra but often (well comparatively) grow as large as the fish pictured.

Just google "Nile Perch" or even "Giant Nile Perch" for extensive examples.

.

[PumpyChowdown]

Good call Angus, I actually think you might be on to something there. I saw the darker bloke and assumed he was Aboriginal, but you could be right. Something about that fish just doesn't look right to me.

Maybe someone can extract the exif data from the photos?

[Keechie]

i saw the same post on another site and most people was calling it for a nile perch. but still thats a bloody awesome fish!

[HookedOnTackle]

i'm backing Angus, nile perch.

nile perch semi regularly get up to that size, the tail fin is a teeny bit rounder than a barra and the tree looks like an acacia, not the usual gum trees found near the fitzroy. also the beer bottle does not look familiar. mmmm beeeeer

[burger93]

Yea i think it is not caught in australia and yea the more i look at it it looks more like a nile perch not 100% but yea. And all you beer drinkers out there the beer he is holding well i think beer is that sold in austrialia.jsut my view.

cheers sean

[Yoodles82]

Not to mention the californian tackle warehouse shirt :-)

[dunks]

Yeah Mate this was posted at another fishing website. It was caught in Africa and is a nile perch. Someone googled it and the photo came up. Sorry to spoil your fun :laugh:

[PumpyChowdown]

dunks wrote:

Yeah Mate this was posted at another fishing website. It was caught in Africa and is a nile perch. Someone googled it and the photo came up. Sorry to spoil your fun :laugh:

Not spoiling anything

I was a little 'fishy' about the whole thing when I got the email. :laugh:

One thing I didn't realize is how similar the Nile Perch is to the Barra. Just about identical. I always thought the Nile Perch was longer and skinnier.

[tugger]

for starters barra don't grow to 110kg around 60kg finishes a barra

[dholmes]

Ive seen a 79lb one. in the Top end.

*fixed

[Dano]

Looks like Africa to me!

[tugger]

is that 79kg or 79pound other wise its a new australian record and i'd like to see that

[PumpyChowdown]

Cairns angler lands world record barramundi

PM Archive - Monday, 7 February , 2000 00:00:00

COMPERE: Fishing tales. In fact, one of the biggest in the world. In far North Queensland a local fisherman has reeled in the biggest Barramundi ever. The monster measures 124 cm long and has received international recognition.

John Taylor got hooked on the story for PM.

JOHN TAYLOR: Local Cairns fisherman, David Powell, has a fishing yarn he'll be able to dine out on for years. David has entered the world's fishing record book, reeling in the biggest Barramundi.

DAVID POWELL: It was 37.85 kilos. The fish was 124 centimetres long and 105 centimetres around the girth.

JOHN TAYLOR: In fishing tales, that's a monster. David Powell caught the Barra while fishing on Lake Tinaroo, just an hour South-West of Cairns.

Myth well and truly busted.

[DES]

Imagine a dam full of those puppies! :woohoo:

[dunks]

Whatever it is wouldn't it be fantastic to land something like that! I wouldn't kill it though. :ohmy:

[wesfish]

massive fish none the less, pity nile perch dont jump as high as barra :laugh: imagine that thing getting half out of the water while hooked up to your barra out fit, i would crap my self lol

[wesfish]

one thing about that pic is the perch is still alive , check out they eyes!!!

[Jaymz711]

Angus wrote:

Another Nile Perch.

Very very similar to a Barra but often (well comparatively) grow as large as the fish pictured.

Just google "Nile Perch" or even "Giant Nile Perch" for extensive examples.

.

wow they are so similar i can barelly tell the difference!

[benno573]

tugger wrote:

for starters barra don't grow to 110kg around 60kg finishes a barra

global warming maybe? I have seen barra pulled out of lake argyle in wa by the pro silver cobbler guys that were in the high 60's kg, The biggest one went 71.2kg. I would love to think 110 would be possible! Maybe in a lake with minimal predation and lots of food it could be? Not wasting energy on migrating and rooting and all that other useless stuff!

[Travis]

Aidenwebb may be able to sort this out, hes from sth africa...

[bluefin59]

I posted the same email on another site AF and later googled the fish and i found it was a nile perch and was caught in ugander ,it was on a west aus web site fishwrecked but i will say its still a bloody big fish..matt :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Zim man]

Travis wrote:

Aidenwebb may be able to sort this out, hes from sth africa...

i am not sure how a saffie would solve the problem . You have to go a few thousand km's north of south africa to find the nile perch.

rob

PS: it is a nile perch and the photos have been shown on several websites claiming to be barra.

[fishingnut]

thought it was a jigman thread! nile perch have slightly smaller scales

[natang]

I would have said Nile Perch too boys. Again it is a pitty a lovely big fish like that was not released as there seems to be no obvious damage from a so called crocodile attack. .

[mick fillet]

thats masive. cant see any sign of a croc bite though it might be on the other side of the fish and the photo was taken of the fishes better side.

would a fish this big even taste any good?

[Bommie]

looks like someone shoved a knife in it's spine in the 1st pic

[mick fillet]

Bommie wrote:

looks like someone shoved a knife in it's spine in the 1st pic

Yeah thats where the huge croc smashsd it :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[nadders]

they'd go pretty hard on the ol 10lb lol

nile perch are apparently a pretty big problem in other areas (part. europe) where tehy enjoy a tilapia like status. cant be hard to imagine a beast like that wreaking havoc on a local ecosystem lol. pretty sure it would not be noxious at all caught in uganda though

[mick fillet]

wesfish wrote:

one thing about that pic is the perch is still alive , check out they eyes!!!

I would like to think that it wasnt still alive and strung up like that.

Are you refering to the red eyes? cause the eyes can look that way in a photo even if the fish is an hour old.

[dunks]

I'd believe it if they said it was caught in the brissie river!! Apparently you can even catch mackeral here so a 113kg barra would not suprise me at all, in fact someone caught a red emperor around the uni the other day went 13kg!! hehe